Prof Nick Cowern 🌍
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nickcowern.bsky.social
Prof Nick Cowern 🌍
@nickcowern.bsky.social
1.1K followers 1K following 580 posts
We're beginning to see the true sensitivity of climate to greenhouse gases, and it's bigger than almost anyone expected. A huge challenge to us all to avoid runaway climate. Energy transition, justice, sustainable buildings / agriculture / horticulture.
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nickcowern.bsky.social
Prof Nick Cowern 🌍 @nickcowern.bsky.social · Feb 7
Rapid climate change is absolutely no surprise. Earth's energy imbalance has been rising as atmospheric aerosol concentrations fall and global temperature rises, creating clearer skies > more incident solar radiation. Noticed the frequent bright white evening sun? www.theguardian.com/environment/...
Hottest January on record mystifies climate scientists
EU monitor says global temperatures were 1.75C above preindustrial levels, extending run of unprecedented highs
www.theguardian.com
Reposted by Prof Nick Cowern 🌍
nickcowern.bsky.social
All very well, but you need to listen to the indigenous people of the Pantanal, whose leaders have been urging you to cut your ties with the fossil-fuel corporations that are causing this destruction – stop taking money from BP and Adani. It's thoroughly immoral for you to be doing this.
February 11, 2026 at 4:30 PM
nickcowern.bsky.social
Trump administration takes steps to gut protections against toxic chemicals in consumer products. Watch for the next step, when Trump is outraged that foreigners don't want to buy US-produced goods and the US balance of payments sags still further.
Duh 🤔
www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...
Republican House bill guts laws protecting US consumers from toxic chemicals
Bill limits type of science used to determine health risks and gives industry major role in chemical review process
www.theguardian.com
February 11, 2026 at 11:56 AM
nickcowern.bsky.social
Finally, a rational analysis of the Mandelson saga and its impact on a leader seeking to act in his electorate's interests.
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
There’s one argument Starmer could make to save his skin – but he won’t dare do it | Jonathan Freedland
Among those focusing on what the PM knew about Peter Mandelson are many who themselves knew plenty and chose to ignore it, says Guardian columnist Jonathan Freedland
www.theguardian.com
February 7, 2026 at 8:02 AM
nickcowern.bsky.social
An illuminating insight, especially for our current dysfunctional times.
share.google/hkVO2FOXn0R4...
A human tendency to value expertise, not just sheer power, explains how some social hierarchies form
Social inequalities emerge in every human society. New research into how these hierarchies form suggests ‘prestige psychology’ – the tendency to defer to expertise – is at the root.
share.google
February 5, 2026 at 7:04 PM
nickcowern.bsky.social
THIS 👇
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
We can reverse America’s decline | Bernie Sanders
It is not good enough just to criticize Trump. We must offer a positive vision that will improve the lives of Americans
www.theguardian.com
February 5, 2026 at 5:28 PM
nickcowern.bsky.social
Flawed economic models mean climate crisis could crash global economy
www.theguardian.com/environment/...
Flawed economic models mean climate crisis could crash global economy, experts warn
States and financial bodies using modelling that ignores shocks from extreme weather and climate tipping points
www.theguardian.com
February 5, 2026 at 7:50 AM
nickcowern.bsky.social
Addressing climate change without the ‘rules-based order’ share.google/04FhIaZ0E5Aj...
Addressing climate change without the ‘rules-based order’
Everyone who cares about climate action must now grapple with how climate politics can function in a new world of uncertainty.
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February 4, 2026 at 6:32 PM
nickcowern.bsky.social
The climate situation and its impact on future global stability is worse than we are told, and governments continue to fear to tell the truth.
share.google/W77owfMJlbA4...
A UK climate security report backed by the intelligence services was quietly buried – a pattern we’ve seen many times before
Governments have been warned about climate change for 70 years. They’re still suppressing the worst news.
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February 4, 2026 at 4:48 PM
Reposted by Prof Nick Cowern 🌍
baldbreens.bsky.social
People have been trying to tell me for years that worrying about climate change is silly because I live in a first world country. These people have always been ignorant of the facts.
georgemonbiot.bsky.social George Monbiot @georgemonbiot.bsky.social · 14d
Please spread this far and wide, as stories don't get much bigger than this. When the government blocks even the intelligence services from telling us we're heading for environmental catastrophe, you know we have a problem. A very big problem.
Thank you.
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
The UK government didn't want you to see this report on ecosystem collapse. I'm not surprised | George Monbiot
It took an FOI request to bring this national security assessment to light. For ‘doomsayers’ like us, it is the ultimate vindication, says Guardian columnist George Monbiot
www.theguardian.com
January 28, 2026 at 11:33 AM
nickcowern.bsky.social
America feels like a country on the brink of an authoritarian takeover.
Francine Prose
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
America feels like a country on the brink of an authoritarian takeover | Francine Prose
This is the news we should be paying attention to. At least for the moment, everything else is a distraction
www.theguardian.com
January 26, 2026 at 11:52 AM
nickcowern.bsky.social
To paraphrase one veteran: "If you haven't served, at least have the balls to respect those who have"
www.theguardian.com/world/2026/j...
‘If you haven’t served, respect those who have’: Nato soldiers on Trump’s slurs
For those who fought alongside US troops in Afghanistan and Iraq, president’s remarks have cut deep
www.theguardian.com
January 25, 2026 at 8:21 PM
Reposted by Prof Nick Cowern 🌍
nickcowern.bsky.social
Can any country in the world do any kind of "deal" with this lying and corrupt US administration? Of course not. The less we have to do with it, the better.
www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...
Video contradicts Trump’s claim man killed in Minneapolis was a ‘gunman’
Video evidence reviewed by Guardian shows Alex Pretti, killed by agents in Minneapolis, held a phone, not a gun
www.theguardian.com
January 25, 2026 at 8:28 AM
Reposted by Prof Nick Cowern 🌍
dimitridrekonja.bsky.social
Alex Pretti was a colleague at the VA. We hired him to recruit for our trial. He became an ICU nurse- I lover working with him. He was a good kind person who lived to help and these fuckers executed him.

White. Hot. Rage.
January 24, 2026 at 7:31 PM
Reposted by Prof Nick Cowern 🌍
liamthorp.bsky.social
Worth remembering when looking at the horrific scenes in the US right now that both Reform and the Tories have pledged to bring in ICE-style organisations to the UK if they win power
January 24, 2026 at 10:33 PM
nickcowern.bsky.social
Can any country in the world do any kind of "deal" with this lying and corrupt US administration? Of course not. The less we have to do with it, the better.
www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...
Video contradicts Trump’s claim man killed in Minneapolis was a ‘gunman’
Video evidence reviewed by Guardian shows Alex Pretti, killed by agents in Minneapolis, held a phone, not a gun
www.theguardian.com
January 25, 2026 at 8:28 AM
nickcowern.bsky.social
One wonders how the USA can accept having such a contemptible man as its president and commander-in-chief.
January 23, 2026 at 8:10 PM
nickcowern.bsky.social
So obvious from recent events that Trump knows the Arctic will melt, knows the seas will rise, knows and effectively acknowledges that climate change is real. He just doesn't care. Cities can drown, agricultural land can turn to salt: he only wants to enjoy his blood money and power until he dies.
January 21, 2026 at 2:44 PM
nickcowern.bsky.social
German study finds 96% of US tariff burden borne by itself; levies also weaken industrial competitiveness: expert - Global Times share.google/RcCNI6p5g3AD...
German study finds 96% of US tariff burden borne by itself; levies also weaken industrial competitiveness: expert
A new study released on Monday (local time) by a German economic research institute shows that the vast majority of tariffs imposed by the US government are ultimately borne within the US economy itse...
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January 21, 2026 at 12:08 PM
nickcowern.bsky.social
Sure, Jeremy, but under the pressures we have now from big oil, the oligarchs' social media companies and their political wings, democracies also die gradually, then suddenly.
BBC News - Bowen: Authoritarian regimes die gradually then suddenly, but Iran is not there yet
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Jeremy Bowen: Authoritarian regimes die gradually then suddenly, but Iran is not there yet
The regime's opponents will hope for more pressure to accelerate the process, writes the BBC's international editor.
www.bbc.co.uk
January 13, 2026 at 7:38 PM
Reposted by Prof Nick Cowern 🌍
chrischirp.bsky.social
very disappointing.

There is a code of conduct for Royal Society fellows - it's not a value judgement to say that Musk has contravened it!

see relevant bits of code and the Royal Society stated values below.
January 9, 2026 at 5:11 PM
nickcowern.bsky.social
Trump's greatest achievements - to meet the short-term needs of an obsolete global industry, fossil fuels, that seeks to survive a few years longer, and to lie constantly about the flourishing global industry that's replacing it as we speak.
blkahn.bsky.social Brian Kahn @blkahn.bsky.social · Jan 9
Trump: "All you have to do is say to China, how many windmill areas do you have in China? So far they're not able to find any."

China:
January 10, 2026 at 6:08 AM
Reposted by Prof Nick Cowern 🌍
mayorjacobfrey.bsky.social
Let's call a spade a spade: Kristi Noem watched the videos and doesn't want an impartial investigation because she knows her narrative about domestic terrorism is bullshit. www.mprnews.org/story/2026/0...
FBI takes over investigation into fatal shooting of Renee Good
State investigators say they are off the case, and the FBI is now solely in charge.
www.mprnews.org
January 8, 2026 at 7:51 PM
nickcowern.bsky.social
So it's support protesters in Iran but shoot them (like Iran) in Minnesota? After not much more than one year, America has fallen into barbarity.
January 9, 2026 at 10:13 AM
nickcowern.bsky.social
Words of a humanity that Trump, Putin or Netanyahu could never understand, but will long survive them.
www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle...
A moment that changed me: in the bombed-out ruins of an apartment block, I saw a book I’d translated
The sight of my work, torn and singed but still legible, made me realise the importance of translating and protecting stories – so they remain when everything else falls away
www.theguardian.com
January 7, 2026 at 11:19 AM
nickcowern.bsky.social
How can anyone say this was unpredictable? He is acting exactly as promised. The fault lies in having comprehensively ignored and discounted his statements.
'BBC News - Chris Mason: Greenland and Ukraine point to Trump's head-spinning unpredictability'
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Chris Mason: Greenland and Ukraine point to Trump's head-spinning unpredictability
This week has seen two case studies in how Europe is trying to bind the US into its future, writes the BBC's political editor.
www.bbc.co.uk
January 7, 2026 at 8:53 AM